Christmas Tree in New York: Rockefeller Center

The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree will be lit on December 3, 2025 at 8 pm. You can see it through mid-January 2026. Don't miss it!

Seeing NYC's most famous tree lit up is quite a show, and it's one of the symbols of Christmas in New York.

Below you'll find all the key information for visiting the Rockefeller tree and seeing its 50,000-plus lights switched on!

Rockefeller Tree Lighting 2025

Since the date is still a way off, here are the details from last year's tree lighting:

The lighting ceremony for Manhattan's Christmas tree took place on Wednesday, December 4, 2024 at 8 pm.

As it does every year, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree lighting happens on the Wednesday after the Thanksgiving parade, marking the official start of Christmas in New York.

The date of Thanksgiving changes every year. You can check it in our post with all the details on seeing the famous Macy's parade on Fifth Avenue.

The ceremony started at 7 pm with a musical show to liven up the wait for the thousands of people gathered to see the lighting of New York's most famous Christmas tree.

What hours is the Rockefeller Tree lit?

Starting Wednesday, December 8, 2024, these are the lighting hours:

🎄The Rockefeller Center tree will be lit daily from 5 am until midnight.

🎅 On Christmas Day the tree will be lit 24 hours.

🥳 On New Year's Eve in New York it will be lit from 5 am to 9 pm.

When does the Rockefeller Center tree come down?

The 2024 Rockefeller Center tree stayed lit until January 11, 2025.

So if you're traveling to New York in January, you'll still get the chance to see it light up those long winter nights.

The exact date it will come down in 2026 hasn't been announced yet. As soon as it is, I'll post it here.

Where is the Rockefeller Christmas Tree?

The Christmas tree goes up in Rockefeller Plaza, in the heart of Rockefeller Center, above Manhattan's iconic ice skating rink.

Rockefeller Center is in Midtown Manhattan, across from the iconic St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue.

Besides the tree, there are other Rockefeller Center attractions you shouldn't miss, among them the Top of the Rock observatory and Radio City Music Hall.

When does the 2025 Rockefeller Center tree go up?

The Christmas tree is installed at Rockefeller Center several days before the lighting ceremony. Decorating it takes time, scaffolding and a lot of workers. It's truly enormous!

In 2024, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree arrived in Manhattan on the morning of Saturday, November 9, almost a month before the lighting ceremony.

It was a huge Norway spruce, 22.5 meters tall and weighing 10 tons, from the small town of West Stockbridge in Massachusetts (a state northeast of New York).

That day it arrived on a 35-meter trailer and was set up in Rockefeller Plaza in front of the ice skating rink with an enormous crane.

Installing the tree in Rockefeller Plaza is one of the iconic moments that kick off Christmas in NYC.

On the day the tree arrives in Manhattan, between noon and 3 pm, there are usually several family activities to celebrate, including meet-ups with Santa Claus. If you're traveling to New York with kids, don't miss this moment!

At the end of the event, sprigs from the tree were handed out to everyone there as a keepsake.

Once the tree was in place, a crew of workers surrounded the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree with scaffolding to decorate it with more than 50,000 lights!

Where did the 2024 tree come from?

Every year Rockefeller Center invites residents of the northeastern United States to nominate and donate their best tree to the city to decorate Rockefeller Center.

This year, the Norway spruce was donated by the Albert family of West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, a small town 220 kilometers north of New York City.

Erick Pauze, head gardener at Rockefeller Center, spotted it in 2020 and arranged with its owner to bring it to New York when the time came.

How tall is the Rockefeller tree?

The chosen tree is usually a Norway spruce that stands between 21 and 30 meters tall.

🎄The 2024 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is 22.5 meters tall, 13 meters wide and weighs 10 tons.

How many lights does it have?

It has more than 50,000 LED lights, close to 8 kilometers of wire, and a star made of 3 million Swarovski crystals, 2.7 meters in diameter and weighing 408 kilos, crowning the Rockefeller Center tree.

You can check the latest Christmas updates from Rockefeller Center on their official page.

History of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree

The Rockefeller tree lighting is a tradition that dates back to 1931, so it's not far off from turning a century old.

The first tree was put up by the workers building Rockefeller Center. They decorated a modest 6.1-meter spruce with cranberry strings, paper garlands and even a few tin cans.

That humble tree marked the beginning of a much-loved New York tradition.

Tips for seeing the Christmas tree

The entrances for seeing the Christmas tree are between 49th and 50th Streets and on Sixth Avenue. Be ready for crowds, since this is one of the most popular spots in New York at Christmas.

Address of the Christmas tree in Manhattan

30 Rockefeller Plaza

How to get there

As I always recommend, the subway is the best way to get around New York, especially if you're planning to visit the Christmas tree.

Traffic in Midtown Manhattan is brutal on those days, so don't even think about taking a taxi.

Subway lines B – D – F – M will all work. Get off at the Rockefeller Center station.